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III. A New Age of Life
“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Each time of life has its own kind of love.”
-Tolstoy
At the turn of the century, the average life expectancy was only 47. Today it is rapidly
approaching 80, and our fastest growing age group demographically are those individuals
over the age of 85. More significantly, the average health of individuals over the age of 50 has dramatically increased. This can be attributed to better nutrition, exercise,
improvement in our health care technology and generally less physical labor in our formal work.
This increased health has created a new, unprecedented age of life in our life cycle. A 60 year old person today is closer to a 40 or 50 year old health-wise compared to a 60 year old thirty or forty years ago.
Midlife used to be defined roughly between the ages of 40 and 60. But with our
improved health and life expectancy, it is probably more accurately described as between the ages of 50 and 70. A number of authors have recently spoken of this new emergent age of life. Jack and Phoebe Ballard, in their book Beating the Age Game: Redefining Retirement, refer to it as the “Third Half of Life.” Hugh Downs, in his book Fifty to Forever, said the opportunities for vibrant living after the age of fifty has dramatically increased. Ken Dychtwald, in his books Age Wave and Age Power, documents in depth a number of social and cultural changes and challenges that will be caused by the growing aging of our population. He refers to this new age as “middlescense.”
U.S. News & World Report, in their June 4th, 2001 issue, titled the cover, “Here Come the
Zoomers,” referring to the over 76 million baby boomers who are about to hit age 50 and
over. Carl Van Horn, director of the Rutgers Center, was quoted as saying, “Retiring
boomers will have the same sweeping impact as the entrance of women into the
workforce in the 70s.”
Traditionally our model of retirement suggested that people essentially worked until the ages of 60-65, and then a person felt fortunate if there were a few years of leisure before their physical health deteriorated and/or death ensued. Now a person can retire at age 60 and expect to live twenty or more years, especially if he or she has taken care of himself or herself physically.
In the last twenty years, there has been an explosion of retirement communities targeting seniors in Florida and the southwest United States. Del Webb has been the foremost developer of these retirement communities. Most of these communities have historically centered on leisure, with activities such as tennis and golf. With the length of retirement increasing, and the health of retirees generally improving, other opportunities for consumption have been developing, most notably the travel industry.
Another factor for the aging baby boomer population is that they will have the highest level of wealth in their years after age 50 than any previous generation. Tom Brokaw referred to the generation before the baby boomers as the “Greatest Generation.” These groups grew up during the Great Depression, and were generally parsimonious and thrifty when it came to savings versus consumption.
The boomers have been described as a much more independent, “live for today” group. As the “greatest” generation dies off, there will be a significant wealth transfer to the boomers on top of the already significant affluence that most boomers themselves have created.
The boomers are already showing signs that they will not approach retirement in a
traditional fashion. In fact, they have resisted the term “retirement” in general. Boomers are going to have difficulty relating to the terms seniors, elderly, retirement, older, maturing.
In the August 25, 2000 edition of the Portland, OR Business Journal, Serge D. Rovencourt, retired general manager of Portland Hilton Hotel said, “I have retired from the Hilton, but I am not retired. I tell you I am going to find another word that is different from the word retirement. Retirement lends itself for people to say, ‘Well, he is tired, that’s the end of it.’ There has to be another word other than retirement.”
In a recent edition of Modern Maturity, AARP’s membership magazine, editorial director Hugh Delehenty commented, “Baby boomers don’t want to consider themselves seniors—forget that word.” Marc Friedman, author of the book Prime Time: How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement & Transform America, commented about this new age of life: “I am very interested in how we are going to use this gift of thirty extra years that we have been given over this last century.” Boomers are being given an incredible gift; a whole new age of life that has been unprecedented in human history, an age where they will have incredible choices, flexibility, opportunities and for most of them, the financial wherewithal to pursue these choices.
Midlife has often been a time to reflect on one’s purpose and life’s meaning. It can be a great opportunity to explore deeper personal values. It is also typified with greater awareness of one’s death and the whole process of dying. As Morrie Schwartz said in the book Tuesdays with Morrie, “Until one knows how to die one cannot learn how to live.”
Mark Gerzon in Listening to Midlife: Turning Your Crisis Into a Quest, comments:
“From the perspective of mentors such as (Albert) Einstein, (Ernest) Becker,
(Jean) Houston, and (Joseph) Campbell, aging and death do not undermine
life’s meaning; they actually give life meaning. Like artists, we are compelled
to make choices within limits. Just as a painter has a canvas of defined size
and a sculptor has a limited amount of clay, we human beings have a limited
amount of time. With it, we can create beauty, love and meaning, if we dare!”
We have few models of what to do with this new age. Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter are two very visible examples. Since the end of his presidency the Carters have kept productive through local, national and international efforts to bring affordable housing, better mental health services and attention to human rights and peace on an global level.
Jack and Phoebe Ballard, in their book Beating the Age Game—Redefining Retirement, highlight that:
“The thesaurus give these synonyms for the word ‘retirement’: withdrawal, retreat, regression, departure, abdication, abandonment, solitude, isolation.”
They go on to mention that; “The key to vigor and engagement of life at any age is to be challenged, productive and involved.”
Dr. Arnold Hutschnecker, in his book Will to Live, further adds:
“The will to live in civilized man is a combined biological and psychological drive. As long as we have something to live for, the will to live carries us
through the moments of crisis, which are inevitable in every life.”
I would underscore that I believe there is also a spiritual drive that is waiting to be fulfilled and this desire and thirst will probably become greater as boomers age.
The most significant question is whether boomers will primarily choose to use these new years to pursue a life of consumption, leisure and increased isolation from other generations, or whether they will be actively involved and engaged in the real issues and problems our children, families and communities face.
Norman Cousins challenges us with this statement: “The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside us while we live.” William Boetcker emphasizes:
“The more you learn what to do with yourself, and the more you do for others, the more you will enjoy the abundant life.”
As I stated earlier we are learning more and about how to live healthier, longer and how to save and manage our financial affairs. But there is little conversation occurring to what end. In their book “ The Cultural Creatives” Paul Ray and Sherry Ann Ruth Anderson make this point with a cartoon. A New Yorker cartoon shows two yogis sitting cross legged on a mountain peak. They’ve obviously been interrupted in their meditation by a 747 flying by. The older one says to the younger, “Ah they have the know-how but do they have the know-why?”
So how will the boomers live in their post-50 years, traditional retirement models of leisure and other forms of consumption, or new models of engagement and purpose?
I know what our children need and would say.
“May you live all the days of your life.”
-Jonathan Swift
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